Multi-blade network traffic management systems generally provide parallel processing of network traffic to achieve increased throughput and reduced response time. However, in order to provide high availability for client computing devices and server devices, existing multi-blade systems require connectivity between each blade and each external network device via a network port. Accordingly, in the event that one blade fails, the external network device will still be able to communicate with the other blades of the multi-blade system. However, there are a finite number of ports available for connecting to external network devices. Therefore, adding one or more blades to the multi-blade system correspondingly reduces the number of ports available for use by the other blades of the system. As a result, existing multi-blade systems are not scalable.